Henry's New Teacher
by letusworkouttogether
Summary: In a faraway land called Storybrooke, Maine there is a town Mayor, Regina, a small boy named Henry and his new teacher that goes by Emma Swan. This story is AU with no Magic and Henry is Regina's birth son. Emma is a corky new teacher who meets the up-tight Mayor. Swan Queen Endgame.
1. Chapter One - Dragon Slayer

Rated: K+

**Disclaimers**: I do not own Once Upon A Time and the quote that Henry says to Katherine goes to the credit of Anonymous. Got this idea from a gif set on Tumblr, here: post/63316285293/au-emma-is-henrys-new-teacher

**Author's Note**: I love Katherine. I think she is the perfect friend for Regina. Cracking jokes and trying to lift her spirits while supporting her with every decision that she makes. I will make Katherine Regina's secretary. Granny plays a big part in Regina's life. Ursula is Dot-Marie Jones. I wish Once Upon A Time could have her play Ursula, I think she would be amazing! I always pictured her that way so if you don't like it then you can read something else. She brings this strong persona to the table. So her name will be Principal Vanessa Jones. Ursula adopted the name Vanessa so it's pretty close. Just go along with it. Mr. Gold is in here too. He is the bad guy. Such a shocker! Didn't see that one coming did you? This is not my first story I have written. For I have written many. This one just had to be shared. I will take your constructive criticism. Reviews are welcomed of course and are needed to keep this going... If you want it to. That's not a threat. It's.. well.. yeah it's a threat. Also, Rachel is Rapunzel so just imagine a very pretty girl with semi what long hair that goes down past her back. Secondly, long paragraphs kind of bug me. I like to get right into the story. Who knows when I will update this… Happy reading!

Thank you Arden for proof reading this story and throwing out suggestions.

* * *

Chapter One – Dragon Slayer

"Henry! Henry, sweetie, please come down here!"

Thirty-year-old Regina Mills, yelled from her kitchen downstairs in Storybrooke, Maine.

A twelve-year-old boy sat on his bed in his room sighing as he heard his mother's poisonous voice call for him.

The brunette haired kid wasn't exactly keen on going to school this morning. He wanted to stay in his room reading his Fairy Tale book his mother had purchased for him at an auction five years ago. The boy loved that book more than anything in his room, besides his collection of D.C. Comic books.

"What do you want mom!" Henry yelled back to Regina from his room.

The town's Mayor sighed at the attitude which her son had used with her. This was his first day of seventh grade; she didn't want him to be late. Bad first impressions don't appeal to Regina Mills in her book.

All that the Mayor wanted was for her son to have a good education and be the best that he can be. Regina was Henry's best friend growing up but now, it just seemed like the two were slowly growing apart from one another. The brown-eyed woman frowned at this thought to herself.

Her voice got softer. "Henry… It's almost time to go to school. You're going to miss the bus."

The boy barely heard his mother but knew that she wanted him down there. So he idly walked down the stairs with his head down and arms folded. Regina sees her son and her eyes enlarged.

"Why aren't you dressed yet?" she asked.

Henry pouts. "I'm not going."

"And, why not?"

"Because of last year."

The brunette walked over closer to her son and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Sweetie… I thought we talked about this with your school advisor. Those kids are not going to pick on you anymore."

Henry brushed off his mother's hand.

"They will! The kids there will always pick on me because," The boy paused, afraid to say his next words.

"Because why, Henry?"

The boy took a deep breath and looked straight into his mother's eyes. "Because of you!"

The brunette woman became speechless. Tears were about to form in her eyes as the thought of the bullying was caused by her.

"Henry." She said slowly.

The twelve-year-old boy ran back upstairs to his room, slamming his door.

"Henry!" Regina called out to him.

Her house phone begins to ring. The brunette sighs again and walks over to the phone that's placed on the wall next to her stainless steel fridge.

"Hello. This is Mayor Mills speaking." She says blandly.

"Rough morning?"

Regina's lips turn into a small smile knowing who was on the opposite side of the phone.

"What do you need, Kathryn?"

Her best friend Kathryn Nolan, the woman was insatiable. The blonde thirty-one year old woman has known Regina since as long as she can remember. They grew up together and Kathryn stuck by the brunette through thick and thin. The Mayor loved the blonde very much and thinks of Kathryn as her sister. Regina's best friend basically was the only one that she could trust with Henry and with everything else in her life.

"No hi, hello Kathryn how did your meeting with 25 people go WITHOUT their town Mayor? Oh! Did I did I mention that IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY DAY OFF TODAY!"

Regina slammed her palm into her forehead and winced.

"I completely forgot about it. I'm sorry Kathryn. I've been busy this morning. Henry doesn't want to go to school today."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"He says that the kids there will pick on him."

"I thought you guys cleared that up with his school advisor."

"Well, he seems to think they will still pick on him."

"Those kids are just jealous that he has a super-hot mom and is also this town's Mayor."

Regina could hear her friend smirk into the phone, she laughed then sarcastically replied with, "Ha. Ha. Yes that is exactly it, why didn't I think of that before?" The brunette frowned, "Well, it's not entirely incorrect. They do pick on him because of me apparently."

"Makes sense."

Regina scoffed, "Excuse me?"

Kathryn laughed, "Think about it Regina. They think Henry is some spoiled rich brat and you know that they also pick on him for having just a mother and not a father as well.

"He doesn't need one!" The brunette un-expectantly screeched out.

They both became silent. The blonde knew the "father" word was a sensitive subject to bring up.

Kathryn spook calmly to her friend, "Regina, I know. But the kids don't care. Why don't you call him back down and let me talk with him?"

The Mayor took a moment to think about it, "Fine," she placed the phone on her shoulder, "Henry!"

"I said no mom!" The boy yelled back.

"Come down here right this instant! Grandma Kathryn wants to talk to you!"

Her friend jeered, "Hey! Grandma?"

Regina grinned and held the phone back up to her ear, "Pay back for that, "Makes sense" comment."

"Oh Regina lighten up. Get that stick out of your-"

"Hi, Auntie K."

The brunette had already put the house phone on speaker and let Henry talk to her. The boy hopped up on the counter.

"Henry boy! Why aren't you at school? And you didn't hear my last comment about your mom did you?

"I don't want to talk about it…"

Kathryn frowned then came up with an idea that always worked on Henry.

"Will a movie and candy sweeten the pot?"

There was a pause. The blonde woman heard the boy sigh into the phone.

"Okay, fine. I don't want to go because the kids there pick on me."

"What did I tell you Henry to say to yourself every time they pick on you?"

"Lie down and curl up into a ball and yell, "My mom's a Dragon and will flame your ass!"

"Henry!" The Mayor shouted out.

Kathryn winced at the tone in Regina's voice and knew that she would be dealt with later.

"Okay, okay not that one. That's if they start hitting you. The other one."

The boy took a moment, "Everything is okay in the end," Henry starts to say it more slowly, "if it's not okay, then it's not the end."

The Mayor smiled at her son as she started to wipe her kitchen counters.

"Precisely. Things will get better Henry. Now get on your school uniform and prove all those kids wrong."

The boy beams at his aunt's words, "Thanks Auntie K."

"Don't thank me yet, you might still get beat up today."

Regina growled, "I heard that. Kathryn."

"Shoot. Got go kid. Good luck! By cranky Dragon!

"Kathryn!"

* * *

Emma Swan, a twenty-eight year old woman, nervously was biting her nails as she was seated outside the principal's office anxiously waiting for her boss to call her in. The blonde woman dusted off her black skirt and shifted her navy blue and white stripped blouse then fixed her pony tail to try and look more presentable. Emma hated formal clothing. To her this was formal clothing; she had rather be in her white tank top and grey sweat pants letting her hair down eating pizza while watching Frasier.

She pushed back her black square glasses that were barely hanging off her nose while trying to get comfortable. She tried crossing her legs but failed when she heard a small tare in her black panty hose. Sighing to herself she gave up and spread her legs out and putting her face into her hands.

"Gosh this feels like high school all over again."

The student next to her had his head down slightly looking at the floor and nervously playing with his hands.

"So what are you in for?" Emma asked the kid.

The boy kept silent.

The blonde awkwardly looked ahead, "Right."

She heard a door opening and something about getting detention for a week and then she saw a very large built woman with a short slick hair cut wearing a darker blue polo with black slacks and very polished black shoes.

"Miss Swan? You may come in now."

The blonde saw her boss go back down the hall to her office. Emma quickly patted the kids back and told him, "Good luck kid. If I don't come back out in ten minutes call the ambulance."

Emma, as best as she could, walked down the hallway and into the Principal's office.

The green-eyed woman gulped, "Uh. Principal Jones? You wished to see me?

"Yes, please have a seat."

Emma did what she was told and sat down in the seat across from her boss.

The larger woman laced her fingers together and placed them on her desk, scanning the blonde up and down then smiling.

"Well this is a better first impression I got off you then the last one when you called me a," Vanessa Jones paused for a beat, "now what was it. Oh yes. A dawdling, indolent bitch?"

Emma winced.

"Yeah about that… I didn't know that you were my boss."

"Does it matter? Do you often call names like that to strangers?"

The blonde waved her hands, "NO, NO! OF Course not! I have the best manners." She smiled crossing her legs, "Ever. Like. You will ever see."

Her boss stared at her. The green-eyed woman couldn't take the dreadful death glare.

"I'll buy you a new bumper."

Principal Jones smiled, "don't worry about it Mrs. Swan."

"Oh no it's um. It's just Miss. Not married." Emma nervously waves her left hand out showing that she doesn't have a ring. Her boss tilts her head.

"Alright…Well, MISS Swan. Good luck on your first day here at Storybrooke Middle School. If you need anything or have any questions at all you know where my office is."

"Thank you Principal Jones." Emma gets up to leave and turns the door knob but was stopped by the other woman's voice

"Please call me Vanessa." Principal Jones winked at her.

Emma gulped and laughed nervously, "Yeah, okay thanks… Vanessa."

Emma Swan quickly exits the office leaving a Principal Jones shaking her head, smiling at the blonde's nerves.

* * *

"Mr. Gold, how could we have possibly lost five thousand dollars?" The Mayor almost yells at the top of her lungs.

Mr. Gold, Regina's accountant and owner of the Mr. Gold's Pawn shop, was standing in Regina's office trying to calm down the woman.

"Miss Mills," He shifted his cane, "I don't know how we lost so much money in just one week."

The brunette started to pace back and forth, "We lost five thousand dollars Gold. That's a lot of money. It can't just disappear like that."

"I'm sure whatever was taken out of there was put to a good cause."

"What cause was it that needed five thousand dollars?" the Mayor stopped and glared at Mr. Gold, "I want you to find out who did this Mr. Gold, and I want their heads on a stick."

"Calm down, dearie," he smiled his infamous smile and adjusted his black jacket, "we will find out who did this and hear their explanation."

Regina laughed then growled deep in her throat.

"No. There won't be time for one once I talk to them." She flipped through her papers, "There are no records and it doesn't say who took it or what it was used for. It just vanished."

"Yes. As you said before. However, we have more pressing issues to discus."

The Mayor slammed some files on her desk. "What's more pressing than losing five thousand dollars, Gold!"

Mr. Gold tilted his head and calmly said, "The man that went missing about two weeks ago."

Regina kept her composure. She knew about the man that had gone missing.

"That's a problem for the sheriff's office." She simply said and sat down at her desk and rummaged through her papers.

"Have a heart, Regina. They need more money to help with their search."

"What money Gold! Tell them to find the five thousand dollars that was taken from the account and they can have a thousand of it if they can find it."

"But Miss-"

Regina interrupted him, "NOW!"

Mr. Gold smiled, "Of course," then nodded his head, "Good day Miss Mills."

The man was about to walk out the door but then turned around, "Pardon the question Madame Mayor but how is Henry doing?"

The woman was taken aback by this question, "He's having some trouble going to school."

"Bullies again?"

"Yes." Regina grinds her teeth together.

"I thought both of you talked with his school advisor and worked something out?"

"Yes well, Henry is still afraid to go to school," taking enough of this embarrassment she raised her hand, "good day Mr. Gold."

"Yes. Of course good day, Mayor."

The man walks out and Regina lets out a long breath. The Mayor rubs her temples and was about to dive into her paper work when her cell phone rings on her desk. She growls then picks it up without looking at the caller I.D.

"What!"

"We have to stop meeting like this."

The brown eyed woman relaxes, "Oh, Kathryn… You just seem to call me at the worst times."

"Why, what happened?"

"Someone stole five thousand dollars from the town's bank account."

Kathryn gasps through the phone, "Do you know who?"

"Didn't I just say SOMEONE!"

"Okay, okay calm down, Regina just take a few breaths."

The brunette takes a couple breaths in and then out.

"Okay, now, I wanted to talk to you about-"

The Mayor's office phone starts ringing and she quickly looks at it to see who it is and it's from the school.

"Sorry Kathryn the school is calling me from my office phone."

"Will I ever get a lucky break?"

"Not with me, have a nice rest of the day off."

"Yeah, yeah bu-"

Regina hangs up with her friend and quickly grabs her office phone and puts it to her ear.

"Hello, yes? Is Henry okay?"

The woman on the other line speaks in a still tone, "He is fine Madame Mayor but he was late to his last period class today."

Whenever Henry does that, Regina asks the school to call her right away so that she knows what Henry is up to and what she can do to punish him.

"Henry…" she says with disappointment in her voice, "Thank you. I will talk to him when he gets home."

"You're welcome Madame Mayor, have a nice day."

* * *

"This is a Native American dream catcher. It keeps all nightmares out and lets the good dreams in. Dream catchers were invented by the Ojibwe people and were later embraced by some neighboring nations through trade. "

Emma Swan was standing at the front of her class holding up a dream catcher to her students. The class room was of a good size to Emma's standards and loved that the room had large windows on the side to look out into Storybrooke, Maine. The blonde loved the town so far.

The kids were in awe as they watched their teacher talk about the dream catcher. It's like none of them knew what one was.

_Very small town. _She thought to herself.

"Excuse me, Miss Swan but Henry is coming in late."

The blonde turned towards her door and saw a young boy holding his head down and a woman slightly pushing him into the class room. Emma raised an eyebrow and her heart sank as she looked at this kid's motionless expression on his face.

_Something must have happened…_

"Alright thank you," Emma smiled at the small boy, "Have a seat kid."

The blonde watched as Henry dragged himself over to an empty seat in the class.

The teacher continued, "As you can see on your desk are a list of supplies you will be needing for this class as well as the list for these dream catchers we will be making next week. If you have troubles coming up with the stuff don't hesitate to come up to me and we will work something out."

Emma turned around to write some due dates on the board. A blond haired boy that was sitting behind Henry crumbled up a piece of paper and threw it at his head.

"This rich boy won't have a problem."

Some of the kids that were around him heard and giggled softly to themselves.

The teacher turned around and placed her hands on her hips.

"What's so funny back there?"

The blond haired boy smiled at his teacher.

"Nothing, Miss Swan."

Emma notices Henry with his hands on the desk fidgeting with soft tears rolling down his check. The blonde woman's heart sinks to her stomach. She places her chalk down and claps her hands together to get everyone's attention. The woman needed to know why this kid was crying. An idea popped into her head.

"Hey um, class! What do you think about Recess?"

Some of her students got excited and others just got confused at the sudden burst of the teacher's energy.

"Okay awesome, go ahead and go outside and play."

One student raises her hand.

"But, Miss Swan? Won't we get in trouble?"

"Nah you won't. But if an adult comes up to you, say you are collecting bugs for science.

"But this is a history class. And it's cold outside no bugs will be-"

"Ding ding ding! Oh that's the recess bell! Have fun and don't do crack!"

Emma runs to her door and opens it and some of the students quickly leave and others look at each other in amazement.

"What's crack?" whispered one of her students to another.

"I think it's some kind of food from China."

"Oh I love Chinese crack!"

"But you said you didn't know what crack was?"

"Ugh, come on let's just go find some 'bugs'."

The students giggle and they all file out. Henry was the last to the door put the green-eyed woman pulled him back.

"Nah uh kid not you. You stay. You were late."

Henry looks down at his shoes. Emma takes him over to her desk.

"Want to tell me why you were late?"

The boy keeps quiet.

Emma hums, "Okay… Want to tell me why your sleeve is torn?"

Henry quickly covers his torn sleeve and wipes a small tear that slides down his cheek.

Emma warmly asks, "Hey. What's the matter kid?"

"I'm not a kid!" Henry takes offense to this.

The blonde puts up her hands in defense, "Whoa easy there didn't mean to offend you. Then what are you?"

"It's WHO am I. I'm Henry Mills."

"Ah let me see," Emma goes around to her desk and sits down then grabs her list of students and their parents, with also some information about them. "Oh yes Henry Mills. It says here that you are the Mayor's kid."

His teacher smiles but Henry winces at the statement.

"Don't like being the Mayor's kid?"

Henry nods his head.

"Oh he can't be that bad."

"She," the boy corrects her, "she can't be that bad. Don't you know who the Mayor is? Where have you been?"

"Okay enough with the tude. And for your information I have just arrived here two weeks ago. I am new here."

"That explains it. Everyone knows the Mayor."

"Bad reputation?"

"A bad reputation for being so good at her work. She's bossy."

Emma grins, "Bossy… What else is she?"

Henry scrunched his face to come up with something.

"Mean. She's mean to her employees."

"And?" Emma presses.

"Smart mouths Mr. Gold."

"Continue."

"She belittles people all the time. Even when it's just to come up to her and say hi, she just, snaps."

"Sounds like she cares."

"Huh?"

The blonde teacher stands up and walks over to Henry.

"Well sounds to me she cares so much about the town that she will do anything and everything for it. Even if it means she has to be a really bossy mean lady."

The boy thinks about it for a moment then nods his head.

"Yeah well… that might sound like her."

"So she really ain't so bad."

"Ain't is not a word."

Emma puts her hands out, "Does this look like an English class to you?"

"Well it's not a SCIENCE class either."

"Oh shoot which reminds me," the woman walks over to a window and looks down at her students then widens her eyes, "oh crap."

"What?" Henry asks with a little nervousness in his voice.

"Principal Jones is outside. She doesn't look too happy," Emma sees her boss walking back inside the school building, "oh crap she is coming back inside!"

The blonde looks around then swiftly hides under her desk. Henry stands there with his arms out and his shoulders up.

"What are you doing?"

Emma rolls her eyes and speaks sarcastically, "I'm preparing to do a new show called, 'What does it look like I'm doing?'!"

Henry shakes his head.

"Okay, okay well what do I do? Do I hide too?"

"No tell her I'm not here."

"She'll get mad."

"Make something up then!"

"But I don't know ho-"

"Miss Swan why is- Oh Henry. Um. How are you?"

The largely built woman cuts the two's conversation off. She has her arms folded and Henry quickly closes his mouth.

"I'm fine Principal Jones."

"Where is your teacher Henry?"

The boy looks around and lands his eyes on his teacher's desk. He thinks quickly then looks back at the Principal.

"She is uh… She is… She's outside."

"Outside? I was just out there a moment ago looking for her. Her class seems to be outside alone without supervision."

"Yes. Her class is outside. And… so is she. You might want to check again." Henry starts to become overwhelmed when the woman comes closer to him.

"What is everyone doing out there for? And why are you not out there with them?"

Henry looks around discreetly to try and find anything to help him with the story that he's making up.

His eyes land on a wooden sword in the front of the room by the door. He rushes over and grabs it, smiling and runs back over to his spot.

"We are doing a group project. A History project. We are recreating the civil war."

"With, swords? How… Unusual."

The large woman looks at the boy to detect any lie but doesn't find any as Henry just stands there smiling at her.

"Alright, well I will go back out and see if I can find her again. Thank you, Henry."

"You're welcome Principal Jones."

The small boy watches the woman leave and lets out a breath he feels like he was holding forever.

"Alright you can come out now." Henry quietly says.

Emma gets up and wipes her forehead, "Wow kid that was great! I owe you one."

"You better hurry and get down there before she finds out you aren't outside again."

"But- how? How am I supposed to get out there in time? She will see me if I go out that door."

"Go through the window."

"The window!?"

"Yeah. Then you can climb down that tree." He points to a large tree just to the side of the window.

Emma scoffs, "Yeah right kid how am I supposed to climb down from-"

The boy rushes out of the room, "Good luck, Miss Swan!"

"Start calling me Emma kid I hate how Miss Swan sounds coming out of my students mouths!"

Emma goes over to the window and opens it. She looks down then at the tree.

"Ugh, freakin' tree." The blonde puts one leg over the window seal.

* * *

"One hot latte for the Mayor of the town!"

Eugene Lucas. The towns' loud mouth old lady or some others like to refer to her as, Granny. The older woman is wise beyond her years but sometimes she can be a little off center.

"Thank you Granny."

Regina smiles warmly at the other woman behind the counter. Granny notices though the slightest bit of sorrow in her smile today.

"What's the matter honey?"

Regina takes a sip of her coffee, "Oh. Nothing it's just. Well it's Henry."

"Do I need to get my crossbow?"

"No Granny it's-"

"My gun?"

"No-"

"Do I need to get my prison shiv?"

Regina raises her voice, "Miss Lucas!"

Some people at the diner gave her knowing looks.

Regina smiles at the people then looks back at Granny, "No, thank you as tempting as your prison shiv may sound, it might not look good on the Diner's only cook."

"Hasn't stopped me before."

The Mayor glared.

"Alright fine. What's the matter with him?"

"It's not him it's the kids around him. His bullies."

"So I do need my prison shiv?"

"Granny."

The older woman sighs, "I'm just kidding. Sort of. Didn't you two talk to his school advisor?"

Regina huffs, "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Kathryn has a big mouth."

"Yes she does. Remind me to barrow your shiv before I leave."

"You need to give him space."

"I do give Henry space."

Granny raises an eyebrow, "Oh really? I see you two conjoined at the hip twenty four-seven. You were about to go into the men's bathroom with him yesterday if Ruby didn't catch you before you went in there with him."

The younger woman took another sip of her coffee, "I don't know what you are talking about."

"And just last week I saw you two walking down the street and there was a puddle and you picked him up and carried him around it."

"It looked deep."

"He is not two Gina… He will be thirteen this week."

The brunette sighs and shakes her head, "I know."

"He is not the little boy you used to-"

"I know! Granny… I know. He is growing up fast. Too fast," Regina frowns, "already he hates me."

"He doesn't hate you. Just give him some space and some time to figure out his problems on his own."

Regina places a hand on the older woman's hand and smiles at her, "Thank you Granny. What would I do without you?"

"Probably end up looking like that guy."

Granny points to a drunken Leroy. They both laugh then Regina gets up and grabs her purse and coffee.

"You were the perfect Nanny to me."

"Yeah, who let you drink rum out of your baby bottle."

Regina speaks sincerely, "I always think of you as my mother Granny you know that."

The older woman smiles and waves a hand at the brunette.

"Yeah, yeah okay now get out of here before I start crying."

Regina Mills leans over and kisses Granny's check, "I'll see you at Henry's Birthday Party."

The brunette turns on her heels and walks to the door but not until Granny yells for her.

"Hey don't forget this!"

The older woman pulls something out from behind the counter and tosses it to Regina. The brunette's eyes widen and nearly drops her coffee but instead drops the sharp object on the floor realizing what it is.

"Oh my gosh! You weren't kidding about your prison shiv! Don't throw that at me again I could have gotten cut!"

The older woman points, "Hey don't drop that it's fragile!"

Regina waves to Granny and walks out the door, "Goodbye Gran."

The older woman calls out to the Mayor, "You come back here and pick up my prison shiv!

* * *

"Gosh damn tree won't let me go down smoothly."

The blonde teacher struggles to get down the tree with her boots and skirt that she dreads so much.

"This is why we were pants to school."

Emma Swan suddenly scrapes her face on a large twig sticking out from a branch. She mentally curses herself and takes her right hand up to her face to feel the damage but realizes what a stupid idea that was.

"Miss Swan?" Principal Jones calls out

"Oh fu-"

The blonde falls down from the tree and hits her back and bottom on the ground.

The larger woman turns around to see Miss Swan on the grass next to the tree and walks over to her.

"Oh, Miss Swan? Why are you on the ground?"

Emma gets up as smoothly as she can then dust herself off.

"Oh uh, just playing dead. One of the kids shot me with their canon."

The Principal speaks with a very stern voice that sends shivers down Emma's spine. The bad kind of shivers.

"I won't accept this Miss Swan. Such behavior is-"

Emma interrupts her getting kind of annoyed at the woman's attitude, "Is what? Senseless?"

"Childish."

The blonde clenches her jaw.

_Oh yeah childish to actually let kids go outside for some fresh air and learn new things._

"Bring your class back inside and let this be your first warning to you."

"A Warning?" Emma mumbles, "Speaking of childish…"

"Excuse me?"

Emma excitedly claps her hands together and calls for her students.

"Hey class come on back inside the civil war is over! The Confederates win!"

One of the kids looks at another and scrunched his face.

"I thought the Yankee's won."

The other kid shrugs, "I thought we were looking for bugs."

Another student passes by running passed them, "This class rules!"

"Let's go, let's go!" Emma yells out again.

The short-haired woman tugs the blonde by her forearm, with a tighter grip than Emma Swan thinks is reasonable and pulls her to the side, "Remember Miss Swan. A behaved class is a prosperous class."

"Yes of course, Vanessa."

The woman just smiles while letting go, giving Emma the cold shoulder as she walks away, "We'll just stick with Principal Jones for now."

The blonde rolls her eyes and watches the woman disappear into the school building. Emma breathes out and rubs her forearm; she knew that this was going to be a long school year.

"Yikes." The teacher says to herself.

"You're in trouble."

The blonde looks down at Henry that was standing next to her.

"Shut up, are not."

"Are too."

"Are not. I am the teacher so I win. I have the real battle wounds on my butt now go."

"When you fell from the tree did you hurt your pride too?"

Emma grins, "Oh not only is he shy but is a smart mouth too. Go."

They hear the school bell ring. The blonde sighs and talks to herself out loud, "Shoot. So much for a good first impression on the class."

"I thought it went really well."

Miss Swan smiles a little then looks at the boy, "Yeah? You think I did okay?"

"I think you did great!"

They are interrupted by a small voice coming from behind them, "Here Henry I got your bag for you."

The boy blushes, "Oh uh… Thanks, Rachel."

The young blonde girl smiles at Henry. Rachel was the popular girl at Storybrooke Middle school. Whether Henry likes to admit it or not, he has a small crush on the long blonde haired girl. Rachel smiles at the brown-eyed boy and skips away onto the bus.

Emma raises and amused eyebrow as she sees a hint of red crawling up on Henry's neck, "Well-"

"Don't. Say. A. Word."

"I was just gonna say that-"

"Nope."

"But-"

"No. Here's your sword back."

Henry sticks out the sword to Emma. The blonde smiles and winks at him.

"Why don't you keep it."

The boy drops his jaw slightly, "I.. really?"

"Yeah I have no use for the wooden thing now. I don't think any Dragons are coming anytime soon."

Henry gasped. There was only one other person that believed in Dragons and that was… well him.

"You fought Dragons with this wooden sword? You believe in Dragons?"

Emma just merely shrugs, "Of course I do. They are awesome creatures. Yeah I fought Dragons with it and your point?"

Henry whispers, "I believe in them too. Everyone thinks I'm a freak."

The green-eyed woman's heart softens. This kid is really getting to her.

"Well I believe in them so does that make me a freak?"

"No. It just comes naturally for you."

The teacher laughs and nudges Henry, "Yeah okay just keep the thing and try not to hurt your teacher's ego so much."

"I can really keep it?"

"Yes really! But if your mom asks who it was from and where you got it in a mean tone, tell her it was your idea. If she is nice and sweet about it then tell her it was mine."

Emma winks and Henry grins then places the sword in his bag.

"Got it," the boy starts to dash off to the bus and waves back at his teacher, "Thanks Miss Swan!"

"It's Emma!" The blonde waves back and turns around, "See ya kid!"

Little did the two know that a concerned Mayor was watching from a distance at the two. It has been a long time since she has seen Henry running excitedly.

"Henry!" She yells out for him.

The boy sees his mom and runs to her.

"Henry I was hoping we could go to Granny's to celebrate your first day of school."

Henry smiles and nods, "Sounds great mom."

The brunette looked over to the blonde and her face slightly dropped in confusion.

"Henry, who was that?"

The boy turned around to see who is mother was talking about.

"Oh her," his face lit up, "That's Miss Swan, my new History teacher."

"Is she new to the town?"

"Yeah she just moved in two weeks ago."

Regina Mills scanned through her memory bank about why two weeks was familiar to her. She had been so busy with paper work and appointments that she had forgotten what happened two weeks ago.

"Get in the car Henry its cold out here." The brunette gestured her son into the car and took one last look at the toned, beautiful blonde woman who was Henry's new teacher.

* * *

Back at the Mills Mansion. Regina thought that the two had a very nice time at Granny's, besides yelling at the older woman about the prison shiv and how Granny was trying to teach Henry how to use it, they both really enjoyed their time together. Night time was approaching and the brunette woman had made Henry's favorite lasagna for dinner.

"Did you have a good day at school?" Regina asked Henry as they were having their meal together in their dining area. The boy didn't want to bring up him being shoved into a locker before his eighth period class which made him late for it, he didn't want to worry his mother and a worried Mayor was not a pretty sight.

"It was good."

The woman's lips curved upwards, "Good?"

"Yeah."

"What was so good about it?"

The boy instantly became excited, "Well, my new history teacher is really cool."

Regina raised an eyebrow, "Miss Swan?"

Henry smiled at her "Yeah. She gave me this really cool-" the boy stopped speaking as he was about to reveal what exactly the teacher had given him.

"Really cool what?"

Henry started eating some of his food, "Um, nothing."

"What, Henry." Regina sternly asked.

The small boy sighed, he knew he couldn't win this battle with his mother. So he got up and quickly went into his room and grabbed the wooden sword then came back down and showed his mother the precious item he received. Regina looked at the sword and wondered why a teacher would give a "weapon" to a child but instantly calmed down when she saw her son's glowing face before her.

"She gave you that?"

"Yeah! She said she slayed Dragons with it!"

Regina gave an amused smirk, "Oh really? Dragons like me?"

The boy whined, "No mom not like you. Like REAL Dragons!"

The woman has never seen Henry so excited about something in a long time. Ever since she bought him the book about fairy-tales, it has been some time when the little boy was happy about anything. Her heart swelled in her chest and thought how wonderful, smart and charming this teacher really is. Regina's thoughts were interrupted by her son's voice.

"Yeah. She's awesome." Henry was looking down at the sword and running his hands carefully against the wood.

"Well. I will have to meet her soon and ask her about her… Dragon slaying."

"Can she come to my party?"

The brunette woman was taken aback by the question, "You're birthday party? You want one of your teachers. At your birthday party."

"She's not any teacher mom! She's a Dragon slayer," Henry walked over and kissed his mother on the cheek," I'm going to go upstairs and work on some homework. Thanks for dinner mom. Love you."

Regina watched her son go upstairs all the while placing a hand on her soft cheek and feeling the warmth of her sons love.

"I… love you too Henry…"

All of the sudden, the woman's house phone rings. Regina gets up and walks over to the kitchen and grins knowing all too well who is calling her.

"Hi, hello, Kathryn how are you this evening?" She asks sarcastically.

"Um, Miss Mills?"

Regina gasps softly as she hears a man's voice on the other line feeling slightly embarrassed now.

"OH! Mr. Gold I'm sorry it's just that well Kathryn-" she shakes her head, "what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering about Henry's new History teacher. Miss Swan was it?"

"How do you know about her?"

"Well I was passing by the school and saw him with her and asked Principal Jones about the woman. When did she move here?"

All of Regina's flags went up but she still couldn't help but answer the man's questions.

"Oh um... Henry said about two weeks ago."

"Two weeks? Perfect. Thank you, Regina. Still on for tomorrow's appointment at two thirty?"

"Oh yes of course but why-"

"Goodnight, Miss Mills."

The phone goes silent. The Mayor shakes her, "Goodnight… Odd."

She places the phone back on the receiver and walks back into the dining area. She was going to meet Henry's new teacher tomorrow. She wanted to thank her for being so kind to Henry. For giving Henry a chance.

* * *

In an abandoned building far off to the side of Storybrooke, Maine where no one dares to venture out to, was a man with a cane grinning wickedly at another man tied up into a chair.

"Well. Looks like I have the perfect person to put the blame on for your…Absence."

The poor man struggles, trying to break free of the ropes tied around his hands, ankles and across his mouth.


	2. Chapter Two - The Music Program

**A/N**: Thank you all for the reviews and followers! Made me super happy and super excited to post this new chapter! We get to finally see Regina meeting Emma. I would also like to introduce you to Miss Mary Margaret Blanchard! What a sweetheart. Once again please don't hesitate to **review**. It's what keeps this story going.

**Disclaimers**: Found in Chapter One. Mention of abuse but not too bad.

A big thank you to nolongerfeelslikehome! Follow her on Tumblr!

* * *

Chapter Two – The Music Program

The following morning.

"PTA meetings… Such fun."

Emma Swan sighed as she looked around the school's gym to see other teachers and some of the students' parents sitting down on some already put out steal chairs while others were drinking their morning coffee. The blonde had quickly thrown on her dark grey sweat pants with a red tank top. She was feeling slightly embarrassed to see everyone nicely dressed for the morning.

_It's seven in the morning_. _Who has the time?_

Emma Swan pushed up her black glasses and zipped up her black jacket, which she was grateful that she had it in the car to look somewhat presentable.

"Excuse me?"

The blonde turned around to see who tapped her on her shoulder.

"Yes?"

There standing before her was woman couple inches short than Emma, with a pixie-cut hair wearing a grey pencil skirt and white blouse which was covered by her tight blue sweater.

"You're Emma Swan, correct?"

"Yup! And you are?" Sticking out her hand to the smaller woman.

"Oh I'm Mary Margaret Blanchard," Gladly accepting Emma's hand, she shakes it, "I'm the music teacher here."

"How'd you know I was Emma Swan?

Miss Blanchard smiles, "I'm good with people and names. Plus there are not too many teaches who are new here."

"How long have you been working at Storybrooke Middle School?"

"About five years now."

"Wow, early start on teaching?"

"I couldn't possibly wait. I am glad I didn't. I love to teach and I love my students. I am also a part-time math teacher here."

Emma grins, "overachiever much?"

Mary Margaret folds her arms, "And proud of it."

The blonde woman sticks her hands in her jacket pockets, "Well I wanted to travel first."

"You're saying you didn't?"

"If you count walking to the couch from the fridge and then back? Then yeah, I traveled a lot."

The brunette woman giggled, "It's very nice to meet you Miss Swan and I hope the Middle School is treating you well."

"Please call me Emma," The blonde looks around, "So when will this thing start?"

"Should be soon, here you can sit next to me." Mary Margaret gestures over to the set that she was sitting in and the one that was occupying her purse. They walk over and sit down.

"Were you saving a spot for someone?" Emma asks the woman.

"No I just don't like people."

The green-eyed woman raised her eyebrow.

"I was joking."

"I thought every adult in this school didn't have a sense of humor."

"You'd be surprised. So you are an adviser then?"

"Yup. The Principal called me this morning to ask me to be one and that we were having a meeting this morning. She called me at four! What kind of monster is she?"

"The wicked kind."

Emma slides more into her seat, "I'm glad someone agrees with me."

"Oh it's not just you. It's everyone except for the Vice Principal, Sydney Glass. It's just that everyone is afraid of her."

"So no one will stand up to her?"

Mary Margaret lowers her voice, "The last time a teacher stood up to her, she went out-of-town for vacation and never came back."

Emma straightens up, "Seriously?"

"I'm joking again."

"Gosh MM you're almost as bad as I am."

"Anyways, all the teachers here keep their heads down and it seems to work."

Emma mumbles to herself, "Not on my watch…"

All of the teachers and parents who were left standing around had found their seat. Regina Mills had walked into the gymnasium earlier and quickly took her set in the front to the side. The brunette woman saw Principal Jones go up on a small stage built for the mornings PTA meeting. Regina looked over her shoulder to scan out who was here and she immediately saw a bright blonde woman sitting next to Mary Margaret Blanchard conversing with each other. The brunette woman smiled as she was going to meet with the blonde woman to finally thank her for what she has already done for Henry.

Emma Swan let out a breath, "Finally the Principal is here. Is there going to be food afterwards?"

The black-haired woman just giggled.

The larger woman standing up on a podium cleared her throat and the room slowly went silent, "Good morning everyone. I'd like us all to give ourselves a round of applause for a great first day at Storybrooke Middle school," They did as they were told to do and everyone started to clap their hands, "Thank you all for being here on this emergency PTA meeting. With me presiding at this meeting is Sydney Glass."

Emma quietly commented, "Boo…"

The smaller woman grinned and nudged the blonde.

Principal Jones continued, "There is good news and there is bad news. The bad news is we won't be having meatloaf Mondays."

"Yay…"

The smaller woman hit Emma with her purse and whispered, "Emma! Stop it you are going to get us in trouble."

The blonde grinned, "What will she do? Give us detention for a week?"

"More like a month!"

The larger woman smiled, "The good news is that we will be cutting our music program, which will help us save money for a new lounge for the teachers."

It felt like the oxygen in the room was sucked out. Some of the teachers murmured in disbelief and others were excited about the new idea. The parents in the room didn't know what to make out of the situations. The two women who had giggled earlier were now looking up at the Principal in shock. Mary Margaret almost starts to tear up at this statement. She shakes her head and looks at the blonde sitting next to her.

"Emma she can't do this. Music is so important to these kids," Mary swallows a lump in her throat, "They will be heart-broken when they find out. They have worked so hard over the summer for our concert this fall. She can't do this, Emma."

The blonde knows all too well how music is important to those kids. She used to be one of them.

"No you're right. She can't."

The Principal picked up her mallet and was about to hit it on the podium, "That concludes are meeting for-"

"HEY!"

Everyone turned their heads to the back of the room to see a not so dressed blonde woman with a ponytail. Regina Mills slightly dropped her jaw.

Vanessa Jones raised an eyebrow, "Yes, Miss Swan? A Question?"

"You can't do this."

"Do what, Miss Swan?"

"You can't just cut the music program. Music is important to these kids."

"And how would you know if Music is important to these kids or not."

Emma took a moment to recollect her thoughts. She looked down at a pleading Mary Margaret. The blonde looked back up at her boss, "Because music saved my life."

Regina scrunched her face as to how a History teacher could say that music changed her life.

The smaller woman who was sitting beside the toner woman and she tugged on her jacket, "Emma it's no use she won't understand."

Emma looked down at her, "I've got this Mary Margaret," the woman stood her ground and raised her voice slightly so that the larger built woman could hear her, "If I didn't have the music program in the school that I went to I would probably still be out in the streets, homeless. It gave me courage to go out there and do what I love."

_So she took up lessons in school_. Regina thought to herself.

Principal Jones raised her voice as well, "We are cutting the program Miss Swan. I suggest you sit down before you make a bigger fool of yourself."

"I'm the fool? You're forgetting that Mary Margaret is also losing her job. Her passion."

"She will become a full-time Math teacher. She won't lose her job. She also can talk for herself Miss Swan."

Mary pleads with the woman, "Emma-"

The blonde cuts her off, "I don't think anyone in here can. I don't think anyone in here has the guts to stand up to you. It's about time someone did."

The school bell rings.

Jones looks directly at the blonde, "In my office after school. Don't be late Miss Swan."

Emma just nods and sits back down while others start to get up and out of the gym.

The blonde grins, "Did you see the vein in her forehead? It looked like it was going to explode and land all over Sydney."

The smaller woman shakes her head, "Emma you're going to get fired."

"It was worth it."

"The music program is not worth your job."

"It is to me. You have to keep teaching your students music MM. We will find a way to keep the program."

Mary Margaret's frown turns into a smiled, "You really are crazy. You know that right?"

"Not crazy. More like insane."

"Maybe we can talk tonight over diner at Granny's or maybe your place?"

Emma shrugs, "Here's the thing… And don't tell anyone else I told you this but… I really haven't found a place to stay yet."

The smaller woman gasps, "Where are you staying then?

"In my car."

Miss Blanchard grabs Emma's hand and pulls her up and out of her chair dragging her towards the exit.

"Not anymore. I have looked for a roommate for months and I think I just found her!"

Emma sighs, "And how is this good news to me if you are already found your roommate?"

"I'm looking at her silly!"

The blonde looks over her shoulder at the larger built woman, "Oh my gosh not Principal Jones is it!"

"Oh my heavens, Emma it's you!"

Emma smirks, "I know. I am just giving you a hard time."

"Pay back for earlier?"

"You got it" Emma stops them, "Thank you so much for giving me a place to stay. Hope you don't mind but I would like to start moving in tonight if it's possible."

"Of course not, I will help you carry stuff in."

They both smile at each other and walk out the exit.

A Miss Regina Mills was hot on their trail but was stopped by a smiling Principal Jones in front of her, she stopped the brunette woman.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice Madame Mayor. I know you are busy with running a town and all and I do appreciate it."

Regina quietly smiles, "It's no problem and I like to know what is going on at my son's school. Which by the way, I don't mean to intrude on the schools plans but cutting the music program?"

"It's what is necessary for this Middle School." She said sternly.

Getting a little nervous around the woman she doesn't press it, for now, "Hmmm. Well I should get going. Good day Principal Jones."

The larger woman softly grabs her forearm stopping her from turning on her heels, "Regina, I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me tonight at Granny's."

The brown-eyed woman's mouth dropped and quickly tried to come up with an excuse not to go out with this woman, "Oh- well I would have to check my schedule."

"I called your secretary this morning and she said you were free after your appointment with Mr. Gold."

Regina grinds her teeth, "Oh she did, did she?" She mumbles, "Someone is going to be the new topic on the six o clock news…"

"Great! I will pick you up at seven."

The larger woman walks away leaving a stuttering smaller woman, "But- I-" she growls and quickly dials her friends number on her cell, "Kathryn Nolan you better pick up before I get to my office and strangle you."

* * *

"Tell me where he is."

"I- I don't know-"

"TELL ME!"

Mr. Gold hit the poor man tied to a post in an abandoned building in Storybrooke. The man screamed as the other man's cane hit him in his thigh.

"Please Mr. Gold I- I don't know where your son is."

The wicked man paced back and forth and grinned wickedly. Mr. Gold was a very cruel man on a mission to find his son that was taken from him three years ago. Whether the boy ran away or was captured is unknown. Mr. Gold however believed that he was taken. He was going to extreme measures to find him.

"A little bird told me that you were the last one to be seen with him. You tell me where he is now. And I will let you go to your precious wife and daughter Rachel."

The helpless man breathed deeper trying to stay conscious from the older man's blows, "Mr. Gold I keep trying to tell you these past couple weeks that I don't know where he is!"

"LIAR!" Mr. Gold hits him again sending the younger man to his knees.

"It would be a shame, Thomas, if something tragic were to happen to your family without you there to help them."

"Please don't. Don't hurt my family!"

"Oh like you did mine?"

"I didn't take your son!"

Mr. Gold swings back his cane again and this time aims for Thomas's head and knocks him out cold.

"Mr. Corona. When you wake up, I highly suggest you tell me where my son is or your daughter might go missing too."

Mr. Gold's cell phone rings in his jacket pocket. He grunts and reaches for it and places it next to his ear.

"Yes dearie, what do you want."

The voice on the other line was quiet but could be heard clearly, "Okay you got what you wanted, now give me what I want."

"Give it time Dearie, the Music program isn't closed yet and once it is you can have your precious Regina."

"You are the only one to convince her. She trusts you."

"A mistake on her part."

"Why do you want the music program closed anyways?"

"I heard from a larger bird that Miss Emma Swan had a particular interest in music as a young teenager."

"You're trying to crack her."

"Not crack dearie. Just chip away at her until she cracks on her own. I will be watching her. Waiting for the right moment to put the blame on her about the missing person."

"You are a cruel person Mr. Gold."

"Just as cruel as you are, Principal Jones."

* * *

"Second day of school and he is late again to my class."

The blonde teacher mumbled to herself. Eighth period already and Miss Swan was ready for a nap. She looked around her class still reading in their history books and still didn't see the boy, Henry. She looked forward to seeing that kid and missed their small banter. She kept getting up out of her seat and looked over to the classroom doors small window in hopes of seeing him walking down the hallway.

One of her students raised her hand, "Miss Swan? We'll we be having recess again?"

"Not this time. We are going to be doing something much more fun."

Another student spoke up, "I heard you got in trouble yesterday by Principal Jones."

"Who told you that?"

"I also heard that you got into trouble at the PTA meeting."

"It's not my fault that they didn't prepare refreshments!"

"And I also heard that-"

Emma put her hands up, "Whoa hey now is it gain up on teacher day today? Just keep reading chapters one and two in your history book I will be back."

"Where are you going?" a student asked.

"To a place called, Mind your own business!"

The blonde walked out of the room. Most of the students stopped reading and others put their feet on the desks.

One boy whispered to another, "She must have eaten some of that Chinese crack this morning."

The other boy simply nods in agreement.

Emma Swan walked down the hallways of Storybrooke Middle School carefully looking in other class rooms and around corners and sometimes in a trash can. She huffed and placed her hands on her hips.

"Where are you kid…"

The blonde heard soft sniffling noises close to her. She raised an eyebrow and looked around and behind her but no one was there. She quietly stepped towards a locker and kneeled down next to one. She puts her ear up against it and heard more sniffles.

"Hey kid you in there?"

"No."

Emma grinned, "Well if it isn't then who is?"

"A ghost?"

"Trust me kid I have met the locker ghost and it ain't you."

"Ain't is still not a word."

"I will keep using it until you tell me how you got into this locker."

Henry didn't respond back. Emma decided that enough was enough and pulled on the lock.

"It won't work. You need to know the combination."

"These locks are as old as dirt kid. Just a little-" The lock breaks free and the locker door swings open. Emma smiles at Henry, "Locker color looks good on you. Brings out your eyes."

Henry just looks at her.

"Want to tell me who put you in there?"

The small boy shakes his head.

"No? How about I tickle you for the information."

"I'm not ticklish."

"Oh yeah? Well how do you-" Emma starts to tickle him, he doesn't budge, " like-" the blonde tries to tickle his sides, still nothing, " them.. Apples…" she stops tickling him and tilts her head, "Wow you really aren't ticklish."

Henry sighs, "Some kids put me in here okay! Please just leave me alone."

The teacher frowns, "I understand that you need to have some time alone to yourself but you need to talk about this now so you don't have it so bottled up inside you and you won't explode on an innocent bystander."

Henry just simply wipes his eyes and curls his knees up to his chest. Emma's heart saddens and she decides to move closer to him. She looks around to see if anyone is walking down the hallway then leans in closer to Henry and whispers.

"I am going to let you in on another secret I have about me. I used to get shoved into a locker too."

"But you look so strong."

"I wasn't strong then but I am now and you want to know how? I made myself stronger. I took karate and weight lifting classes every day for two hours. I ran. I sprinted. I did pulls up until the bar came off. Then one day a kid was picking on me and pushing me against a locker and you want to know what I did?"

The boy nods his head in anticipation.

"Nothing."

Henry raises an eyebrow, "You didn't fight back?"

"Nope."

"But- but why?"

"What I learned while training and working to become stronger is that I don't have to hit back to be better than them. It actually makes me worse than them. If are strong in here," Emma moves the boys knees and places a finger over his chest where his heart is, "then you can conquer anything."

The boy's frown slowly turned into a smile. Emma helped him out of the locker and onto his feet.

"Thanks, Emma."

"You're welcome. Now let's get to class."

They both start walking down the hall and Emma placed an arm around his shoulder.

Henry grinned, "Or we can sneak out and get ice cream?"

Emma laughed, "As tempting as that sounds I am pretty sure Principal Jones is going to give me my second strike after school and I don't want to waste my third one on ice cream."

"Everyone in the school knows about you standing up to her and I know what she does to teachers who do that."

"Really? What does she do?"

"She skins them and makes them into rugs in her mansion."

Emma stops. She grins and shakes her head, "Wow kid you had me going there for a second."

"Until you stop saying "ain't" this is just how it's going to be for the rest of the school year."

The boy continued to walk down the hallway as Emma just smiled at him and shakes her head again and the funny thing was Emma didn't mind one bit.

* * *

Kathryn tilted her head in Regina Mill's office.

"You want to what?"

The brunette woman smiled at her as she grabbed a folder and put it in with her other files.

"Meet her Kathryn. I want to meet her. I didn't get a chance to meet her because of Principal Jones. Which by the way, you're getting a deduction from your pay check for the next three months."

Kathryn scoffed in defense, "How was I supposed to know that she was going to ask you out on a date?"

"It's not a date! It's just dinner."

"Right because I would never take my date to the only restaurant in town. How stupid would I be."

Regina glared at her friend, "Anyways. As I was saying. I didn't get the chance to meet Miss Swan. I wanted to thank her for being so kind with Henry and for giving him the sword. He won't put that thing down now."

"You can thank her with a phone call or a sticky note. Why thank her in person?" Kathryn slowly smirked, "unless."

"Unless what?"

The blonde woman tried to stop her smiling from growing any bigger, "Nothing."

"Kathryn, do you want to make it four months?"

"Alright. I was just going to say, cranky, that unless you actually wanted to… Get to know her." Kathryn winks at Regina.

The brunette drops her jaw slightly and shakes her head, "That is preposterous. Why would I want to date one of my son's teachers?"

"I will set you up an appointment with this Miss Swan."

"Don't you dare!"

"Why are you so nervous to meet her?"

The brunette stutters, "I am not! I'm just... let me handle this okay? Don't you have a job you should be doing?"

"With the money I get, I would get paid better joining the circus."

"I have their number, let me give them a ring."

"Of course you have their number!"

"Ahem."

Both the women turn around to see a man standing in the middle of Regina's office. Kathryn excuses herself out and glares at Regina behind the man's back mouthing 'I'm going to call Miss Swan.' Regina discreetly glares back and subtlety shakes her head.

Regina smiles at the man and sits down in her chair putting out her hand for the man to do the same.

"Oh Mr. Gold please come in. I'm sorry about that she can be a handful sometimes."

"Heard that." Kathryn's voice came through the box communicator and Regina laughs nervously and unplug it.

Mr. Gold remains standing, "I will be just a minute, and I do have to make this short Regina I am in quite a hurry."

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes well something just came up. I still couldn't find any new information about the missing five thousand dollars."

The woman sighs and nods, "Alright. Thank you for trying Mr. Gold."

"Of course Madame Mayor. I will see you tomorrow."

"Oh Henry's Birthday Party is tomorrow, we will have to reschedule."

"I'll call you then."

Mr. Gold nods and walks out of Regina's office. Kathryn comes back in.

"He's got his cane way to far shoved up his-"

Regina gets up and grabs her jacket and purse interrupting Kathryn, "We have to go Kathryn. I want to get some last-minute supplies for Henry's party before my DINNER MEETING with Principal Jones and I want to find a nice dark alley to kill you in."

Kathryn smiled and clutched her purse and jacket as well, "I'll grab the body bag."

* * *

"This is great this is just great. This red food coloring won't come off."

Emma Swan rubbed aggressively on a napkin trying to get the red stains off her hands.

"It was your brilliant idea to celebrate with a cake. Which can I just say; YOU ARE THE WORST COOK IN THE WORLD. You almost burnt down my apartment!"

"Our apartment. We are in this together MM."

Mary Margaret sighed and took out a handkerchief and handed it to Emma, "Just try to rub out as much of that red food coloring as you can. It looked like you murdered someone."

The blonde takes it, "Yeah, yeah okay just find us a nice booth in there and order me a burger and fries with a chocolate shake."

"A typical choice."

"A classic choice."

Miss Blanchard walks around the corner and disappears. Emma rubs aggressively again on her hands. Her cell phone in her purse rings. She grunts and quickly pulls it out, "Hello?"

Over on the other side of the building. Principal Jones smiles at Regina as she opens the passenger side door for her.

"Here let me get the door for you."

Regina nods, "Thank you Principal Jones."

The smaller woman gets out of the car and the short-haired woman closes her car door and moves closer to Regina.

"Please call me Vanessa." She smiles at the Mayor.

Feeling very uncomfortable she looks around, "Alright…"

Principal Jones places a hand on the brown-eyed woman's forearm, "You look very beautiful tonight Regina-"

The Mayor steps back, "Let's just get one thing clear-" she stops speaking once she sees her bright blonde haired teacher just around the corner. Well, not HER blonde, toned, gorgeous teacher… Henry's teacher.

The larger woman disrupts her thoughts, "Yes?"

Regina smiles at Vanessa Jones, "Can you meet me inside I have to go- I have to make a quick phone call."

"Alright. Don't keep me waiting too long." The woman winks at the brunette and heads inside the diner. Once the coast was clear Regina presses down her skirt and quickly fixes her hair.

_Why am I fixing my hair for?_ The Mayor mentally curses herself and takes strong steps towards the blonde.

"Yes, yes of course I will have to money by the end of this month. You will get your money. Yes I promise you will. Okay bye-"Emma Swan hangs up but then is startled by a voice behind her.

"Miss Swan-"

"Don't shoot!" Emma quickly turns around and puts her hands up in the air.

Regina scrunched her face slightly, "I'm not going to-"

The green-eyed woman pleads with the woman in front of her, "Please don't take me to jail! I am just a poor widow with four kids to raise!"

"Miss Swan, I am not a cop."

"Oh…" The taller woman puts her hands down and smiles, "Phew, thank goodness."

"I'm Regina Mills, Henry's mother."

Emma continues to smile, "Oh," her heart then drops to the center of the Earth's core along with her face as she realizes who she is, "OH! OH MY GOSH YOU'RE THE MAYOR!" Emma starts bowing up and down, "I am so sorry- I- I didn't know what you looked like and-"

"Miss Swan-"

"There was a glare from my glasses and you looked like a cop and I swear this isn't blood on my hands I didn't kill anyone and-"

"Miss Swan please I-"

"Not that cops are ugly not at all you are very-"

"MISS SWAN!"

Emma stops in mid bow.

Regina smiles warmly at the clumsy blonde, "I'm not a queen. You can stop bowing."

The taller woman laughs nervously and slowly straitened herself out and grips the strap of her bag that's across her chest.

"Right. Sorry I act stupid when I'm nervous." Emma rubs the back of her neck.

"It's quite alright. I just wanted to meet you."

"Oh... Great first impression right?"

"Well I wouldn't say it was in my top ten."

Emma laughs, "Ouch," she points, "you sound just like him."

The smaller woman tilts her head in confusion, "Excuse me?"

"Henry. You sound like him. Well he sounds like you. Vice Versa."

Emma pushes up her glasses and Regina finds it very attractive… The woman was almost lost in thought when she realized what she actually wanted to see the blonde woman for.

"Speaking of Henry, I wanted to talk to you about Henry's sword-"

Emma interrupts her, "It was his idea. The kid wouldn't stop whining about it and would throw my globe out the window if he didn't have it."

The Mayor chuckles, "Miss Swan I was going to say thank you for giving that to him. I haven't seen him that excited in a long time."

"It was my idea."

Regina laughs again and Emma found that she could not stop looking at the other woman's smile.

"You have such a beautiful smile," Emma whispers to herself.

The brunette slowly stops laughing, "Pardon?"

"What?"

"Did you say something?"

Emma hums, "No I don't think I did."

"Well, thank you again for giving him a chance."

"I really like him. Honestly I do. He's a great kid. Just like his father I'm sure."

Regina grimaces, "Oh, no, no father."

Emma smirks and leans up against the building wall trying to act nonchalant around a beautiful, hopefully single woman, "Oh I'm sorry. Dead?"

"Divorced."

The blonde smiles then quickly frowns, "Oh- oh that's a shame," Emma tries to readjust herself but fails and slips off the wall. The brown-eyed woman smiles and looks away pretending she didn't see the other woman slip.

The blonde sees the brunette looking away and sighs in relief, "Well I better get going. It was very nice meeting you." Emma smiles and turns on her heels.

"Nice meeting you as well… Oh, Miss Swan?"

Emma quickly turns back around, "Yes?"

"Henry. I don't know if he asked you yet but he wanted to invite you to his birthday party tomorrow."

"No he didn't. Yeah that sounds great I will be there."

The brunette steps forward while rummaging in her purse, "I will give you my address."

"It's okay I already know where you live."

Regina stops and looks up at Emma. The blonde slaps her forehead with her palm, "Wow that came out very wrong."

"I knew what you meant. I think. Here is my number if you happen to get lost," The Mayor hands Miss Swan her card and the blonde gladly accepts it.

"Thank you... I'll see you then?"

"Of course. Good night."

"Night."

Both women start walking back to the diner's front door. They stop and laugh at each other and Emma moves to the side thinking the woman is going the opposite way but doesn't and only watches her.

Emma chuckles, "Looks like we are going the same way."

"Are you by chance going into Granny's?"

"Yes I am. How did you know?"

Regina points to a very pale Miss Blanchard just outside the diner's front door looking in through the window. Emma tilts her head and looks at the pixie-haired woman in confusion.

Regina folds her arms, feeling some jealousy rise in her chest, "You're date seems to be waiting."

"What the hell Mary-" Emma shakes her head and looks into Regina's eyes, "My date? No, no, no, no, no…no..just… no. How about… no. She is not my date." The blonde looks at Mary Margaret again trying to figure out what she is doing.

Regina internally smiles at this, "Well would you like to join me and-"

Emma flicks her wrist at her, "Yeah, yeah sure um I will meet you inside."

The Mayor smiles and walks past Miss Blanchard and into the diner. Emma walks up to her new roommate and grabs her by her jacket collar and pulls her to the side.

"Ow!"

"Mary Margaret? What are you still doing outside staring into the diner like some hobo!"

The smaller woman shakes her head, "I can't go in Emma."

"Don't worry, I have heard the rumors about Granny and she's not as cracked up as she seems."

"I know who Granny is and I have been in there several times. It's the person who is in there, look."

Mary turns Emma's head to look directly into a larger window at the one person she did not want to see.

"Damn its Principal Jones," Emma widens her eyes as she sees Henry's mother slide in next to her, "And Regina is sitting across from her! What the hell!"

"Exactly now let's go eat somewhere else."

The freighted woman turns to leave but is grabbed again by the collar.

"Ow! Stop that!"

"We can't leave. I already promised the Mayor that I would sit with her."

"Oh good so then I can leave."

"No you don't. We are a package deal now, come on."

The brunette woman whines and follows her friend into the diner. They both awkwardly put on huge smiles as they stand in front of the booth. Vanessa Jones is slightly glaring at the two women while Regina is smiling at Emma.

"Thank you for joining us." The Mayor says brightly.

Miss Blanchard slides in as smoothly as she can closest to the window and Emma slides in next to her. Mary smiles at the larger woman seated across from her. Vanessa continues to glare. The pixie-cut haired woman gulps.

"It's a pleasure to be here," Emma relaxes her smile a bit and turns to whisper over to her friend, "Loosen up MM you look like you're about to pass out."

The smaller woman whispers back, "That's because I am."

"So Miss Blanchard," Regina interrupts them and sincerely speaks to Mary, "I never got the chance to say how sorry I am for the Music Program closing."

"Yes it is a shame." Principal Jones, deciding now to join the conversation.

Emma's eyeball twitches.

Mary Margaret waves a hand, not wanting to press the issue any more than it has been already and simply states, "It's fine. Really- really it's fine."

Emma grunts, "It's not-"

"What can I get you all this evening?" Granny Lucas interrupts their conversation holding out a pencil and note pad.

The blonde looks up at Granny, "Can you give us a moment?"

"Of course. I'll be back in five." The older woman leaves, Emma turns to the larger woman, "Principal Jones- since we are here, I would like to talk to you more the Music-"

"It's a closed discussion Miss Swan."

"Well we just re-opened it."

"The school cannot afford to keep the music program. The teacher's need a new lounge room so that-"

"So that they can what? Sit on their asses all day and talk about how annoying their students are?"

Regina gasps, she didn't expect an outburst from the blonde after today's one at the gymnasium, "Miss Swan I think that's highly inappropriate to be talking to your boss that way. Besides the teachers' need a new room. The ceiling has started leaking and the floors need new carpets and new computers and-"

The blonde looks at the Mayor, "Can't we figure out a way so that both sides get what they want?"

Mary Margaret tugs on her friend's jacket, "Emma-"

Principal Jones speaks up, "We've tried Miss Swan and it just won't work."

Regina begins to agree with the larger woman, "The school needs a new lounge room-"

Emma raised her voice, "The school needs a music program!"

Miss Blanchard whispers to her new roommate, "Emma, please."

The blonde continues staring at Regina, "How can you sit there and tell me that students don't need music!"

Getting annoyed with the woman across from her she raises her voice as well, "They don't need a class room to learn it; they can learn at home where their parents can teach them or someone in their neighborhood!""

"Some kids don't have parents!"

Principal Jones begins to worry, "Ladies-"

The brunette shouts at the blonde, "Some kids do have parents and their mothers force them to play piano each day for three hours straight! With no breaks and if I complained she would-"

The women at the booth stare at Regina. The Mayor shakes her head softly as she looks into deep green-eyes in front of her. Emma eyes are almost too hard to look at as she sees compassion and concern towards Regina. The brunette couldn't possibly have anyone that would understand her, that would care for her. The woman quickly grabs her purse.

"I- I have to go." Miss Mills exits the booth and then the diner hurriedly.

The larger woman reaches out for her but misses, "Regina-" Principal Jones looks at Emma and says to her sternly, "You really are good at pushing people's buttons. Learn to control your temper Miss Swan. Or it's strike three."

The short-haired woman leaves the two women in the booth and tries to catch Regina Mills. Mary Margaret sighs putting a hand to her forehead.

"Emma you shouldn't have done that."

The blonde frowns and looks down, "I know," she sighs, "She's right. I do have a bad temper. I guess I can't help it. When I see how rude she gets with people I feel the need to always stand up to them. Call them on their shi-"

"Sometimes it's best to keep your head low."

"Yeah… Maybe. Now I really messed up things with Henry's mother. I really like the kid," Emma fidgets with her fingers, "And I kind of like- I like her."

Mary Margaret grins, "You like her? Or you like her, like her."

Emma smirks and nudges her friend, "Shut up," she pauses, "You're okay that I'm gay."

The smaller woman gasps sarcastically, "What? You're gay? I had no idea with the clothes you wear and your hair always in a ponytail and every time I mention men you gag."

"Hey! Are you stereo-typing Gay women? I can call you a lesbian because your hair is short."

"Anyways, yes I am okay with it. As long as you don't hit on me."

"Why do I find that really disgusting?"

"You know I knew Regina growing up and I remember her staying in her parents' home just practicing that piano for hours on end while other kids would go out and play. She still has a piano in her home but I don't think she ever plays it."

Emma shrugs, "She should. Music helped me shape my life back up."

"But you learned and played for the right reasons. She was forced to."

This only made the blonde like the Mayor even more. She had a soft spot for those who were forced to do something they didn't want to do.

"I need to apologize to her."

"Give her a few days to cool down."

"Well I can't tomorrow, I have to see her."

"Why?"

"Henry's Birthday party."

Mary Margaret picks up a menu, "Well until then do you want to order something?"

Emma looks down, "I'm not hungry…"

"Emma. That's like saying Michael Phelps doesn't feel like swimming."

The blonde grins and swipes the menu out of her friend's hand.

* * *

"Mom you're back! How was your date with-"

Regina arrives home and slams the front door shut behind her and storms towards the kitchen.

"It wasn't a date Henry!"

The boy stops and frowns. His mother sighs and puts her stuff down on the counter, "Oh Henry, I'm- I'm sorry it just, didn't go so well tonight."

Her friend Kathryn comes around the corner and into the kitchen, "What happened?"

"Thank you for watching him Kathryn. I'll tell you about it in a second."

Henry walks over to his mother, "Mom what's wrong?"

Regina hugs him tightly and whispers softly to him, "Henry, go upstairs and get ready for bed you have a big day tomorrow. I love you."

The boy sighs, "Okay… Love you too." He starts walking up the stairs.

Kathryn walks over to her overly stressed friend, "So?"

The brunette throws her hands up in the air, "She's absolutely maddening!"

"Everyone knows that Regina."

"I am talking about Miss Swan."

The blonde raises an eyebrow, "Oh she was there?"

Regina glares, "Yes and after Henry's Birthday Party tomorrow, I will never see her again."

Kathryn breathes in and folds her arms taking one last look up the stairs to see if Henry was watching but isn't so she simply said, "Henry was telling me about her while you were gone."

The Mayor grabs some Windex and a wash cloth and starts scrubbing her counters, "I'm sure he absolutely adores her. She acts like a child."

"He really does. Regina, he tells me she saved him."

The brunette stops scrubbing, "She saved him? How?"

"I guess there was an incident today at school-"

"What happened? His he okay? Why didn't he tell me! Henry!"

Her friend stops Regina's body from going upstairs and whispers to the brunette, "Regina be quiet! He told me not to tell you," Kathryn now has her friend's attention and continues, "Henry told me that he was stuck in a locker before eighth period and Emma went to go look for him and got him out."

"She- she did that?"

"Not so maddening now is she?"

Regina is supposed to hate the woman, not start to slowly fall in- "I still don't like her."

Kathryn grinned, "Sure you don't and that look in your eyes tells me that you don't find her attractive either."

"Of course I don't!"

"Henry described her to me and she sounds-"

"Please if you say hot then you might as well sleep over and we can have a slumber party and paint each other's toe nails."

Her friend laughs and grabs her jacket and purse from the closet, "I'll see you tomorrow. Still planning on doing some more last-minute shopping tomorrow?"

Regina walks the other woman to the front door, "Yes of course. I want his party to be perfect."

"You try too hard Regina." Kathryn says sincerely.

The brunette smiles at her friend, "Thank you again for watching him."

Kathryn kisses Regina's cheek and slips out. The brunette lets out a long breath and heads up to her sons room. She sees her son lying in his bed with his lamp light on and his Fairy Tale book open. Regina smiles and sits down next to him on his bed and speaks quietly, "Hey there Birthday boy."

"It's not my birthday yet mom."

Regina brushes some brown hair out of her sons face, "Tomorrow it will be."

"Emma is a really nice person mom."

She tilts her head, "Why would you say that Henry?"

Henry plays with his books pages, "I heard you guys talking about her down stairs…"

"You know Henry it's not nice to snoop on someone's conversation."

The boy shrugs, "It's not hard. Kathryn has a big mouth."

Regina chuckles, "You're right it's not. Why didn't you tell me some kids put you in a locker?"

"I didn't need to."

"Why?"

"Because she saved me mom. I feel safe when she is around."

"You just met her Henry and she is just your teacher."

"She is more than that. She makes me feel safe. Makes me feel… important."

The brunette's heart softened at her son's statement. She might have some apologizing to do to the blonde teacher.

"Okay... Well if you feel safe then I feel safe." Regina leans down and kisses Henry's forehead and grabs his book and turns off his lamp light, "Goodnight baby boy."

The brunette was about to walk out of his room when the boy stopped her, "Is she still coming to my party?"

Regina smiles and turns around, "Yes she is, Henry."

The boy smiles as well and turns to his side, "Good. Good night mom."

The brunette watches as Henry turns over and begins to sleep. Once again her thoughts were filled with his blonde teacher, the way she looks at her, the way she speaks to her and how nervous she gets around the Mayor. She chuckles to herself and shuts her son's bedroom door.

"Good night, Henry."


End file.
